Saturday, November 10, 2012

IMMORTUI – Fighting the Undead – Roman Armour and Clothing

Optio's helmet

In the previous post, we looked at the main
weapons used by Roman troops. However, if you are not clothed and
protected, you may not last long on the field of combat. In IMMORTUI, I mention
some of the articles of clothing that the characters wear as well as their
armour.

Pretend you are a Roman soldier getting
dressed for the day or that you are preparing to go on campaign and need to
stuff some extra clothing into your satchel which you will have to carry on
your back along with two sharpened stakes, pots and a shovel and pick axe. When
the Legions were reorganized and
equipment standardized by the General Marius, there was a reason why the men became
known as ‘Marius’ mules’!

Tunic

Bracae and Caligae

The
Roman soldier would have a standard issue tunica
which was like an over-sized shirt, belted at the waist by a cingulum. You wouldn’t leave without
pants or trousers in the morning and neither would a Roman go into battle without
bracae which were made of wool, just
like the tunic. This basic outfit was completed with a pair of caligae which were standard issue Roman
military sandals with hobnails. As an aside, the Emperor Caligula was so
nick-named because of the little pair of army sandals he wore as a child. He
was called ‘Little Boots’. New archaeological evidence shows that contrary to
what was thought, Roman soldiers did in fact wear woollen socks. Makes sense to
me; I can‘t imagine trekking through Caledonia or Germania
in bare feet. A cloak was also an important piece of the outfit and could serve
as a blanket on the march, a shield against the elements.

Phalerae

Cingulum and Pugio

If you were a decorated officer such as a
centurion, you would be wearing a leather harness over your chest that was
decorated with phalerae, a series of
bronze or iron discs with images of gods, goddesses and other symbols that were
believed to protect the wearer from harm. Soldiers were notoriously
superstitious!

Lorica Segmentata

All that clothing however, is not going to
help you if you are not protected by a certain amount of armour. This brings us
to the lorica segmentata, the
standeard breastplate of the Roman legionary of the Empire. The design of the lorica is ingenious, providing good
shoulder, chest and back protection while providing for ease of movement and
flexibility due to the segmented style of the steel plates. If you were an
auxiliary trooper, you more likely had chainmail. Aside from the leather straps
hanging from the soldier’s cingulum,
the lorica was the only protection on
the torso.

Officer's Pteriges

An officer’s armour would vary from the
ordinary trooper’s. Commanding officers or tribunes would be wearing a cuirass
which was a breast/back plate made of iron and/or hardened bull’s hide, often
ornamented with patron gods and goddesses of their family. Beneath these would
be a full skirt of leather straps hanging down to the knees called pteriges. A commander may also have worn
ornamented greaves which protected the shins but these were often cumbersome
and not always in use during the Empire.

Finally, when it comes to protection, few
things mattered so much as the helmet. The standard legionary helmet was
perfected over hundreds of years, improving upon ancient Greek, Thracian and
Macedonian models. There was a rim to protect the face from downward slashes
from an enemy, a large, fan-like neck protector at the back, cheek flaps and
holes for the ears so that the soldier could hear what was going on.

Centurion's helmet

Helmet crests were used to denote rank as
well. For instance, a centurion would be known by the horizontal, horse-hair
crest on his helmet where an optio (one step down from a centurion) had a crest
going from front to back with feathers on either side of the helmet. A legate
or other commanding officer might add a flourish with a very large horse-hair
crest and highly ornamented cheek pieces to denote their own rank and wealth.
Later on, parade helmets for cavalry prefects and other auxiliary officers
included face masks, giving them an otherworldly look.

Auxiliary Cavalry Helmet

There you have it, a quick look at the
clothing and armour of the Roman army. Not much to it, but, it was highly
effective and utilitarian and certainly gave the soldiers of Rome an edge when combined with their
weapons. Whether or not the armour provides enough protection against the
undead enemy in IMMORTUI, well, that is another thing entirely.

Keep
an eye out for the third and final instalment of the posts looking at the world
of IMMORTUI when I will look at the cult of the Roman soldiers’ god, Mithras. IMMORTUI - Carpathian Interlude Part I is now available as a $.99 cent novella on Amazon and iTunes.